No plan to name Jharsuguda airport after Surendra Sai

New Delhi: The Union civil aviation ministry denied taking any concrete steps towards naming the Jharsuguda Airport after freedom fighter Veer Surendra Sai citing absence of a state Assembly resolution in this regard. The response came from the Centre when the matter was raised by BJD Rajya Sabha MP Prasanna Acharya in the Upper House Wednesday.Minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha said, “As a general practice requests for naming/renaming of airports are considered based on the recommendations of the concerned state supported by a resolution passed in the legislative Assembly. However, no such resolution for naming the Jharsuguda Airport after ‘Veer Surendra Sai’ has been received.”Earlier, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had requested the Centre to name the Jharsuguda Airport after Veer Surendra Sai. Acharya also asked when the Jharsuguda Airport would start operations and the amount the ministry had spent to operationalise it under the Centre’s Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).